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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 5, 2024 17:07:49 GMT -5
OFF THE RACKSReal Readers, Honest Reviews  What did you pick up this week? |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Mar 5, 2024 21:24:28 GMT -5
seems to be a big week for me...
Mighty Marvel Masterworks Captain America Vol. 3
Batman Beyond The Animated Series Classics Compendium 25th Anniversary
The Bat-Man First Knight #1
Birds of Prey #7
Green Arrow Graphic Novel Volume 1 Reunion
Detective Comics #411 Facsimile Edition
Doctor Strange #13
Ultimate X-Men #1
Shazam #9
Batman #144
Batman the Brave and the Bold #10
Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #3
Strangers in Paradise Graphic Novel Volume 3
expensive one too as 4 collected editions came in the same week, something I usually try to avoid.
-M
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Post by majestic on Mar 6, 2024 17:56:41 GMT -5
Shazam #9. Mark Waid's last issue. Cap "teams up" with the Creeper. This was a different style of team up. Honestly I would have liked a Plastic Man team up but this was so offbeat that it worked. Waid has set the bar high for the next creative team to keep this title fun and quirky.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 7:19:56 GMT -5
Shazam #9. Mark Waid's last issue. Cap "teams up" with the Creeper. This was a different style of team up. Honestly I would have liked a Plastic Man team up but this was so offbeat that it worked. Waid has set the bar high for the next creative team to keep this title fun and quirky. Yeah, the Creeper was an interesting choice and my hopes are high that the book continues to do well with the new team. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 9:31:54 GMT -5
The Bat-Man: First Knight #1Written by Dan Jurgens Art by Mike Perkins Summary: With a slew of beastly murders on the rise Gotham's finest form an uneasy alliance with a masked vigilante.
Plot: In this new mini-series Dan Jurgens gives us a modern day re-imagining of Batman's earliest stories...but it's more than just a "Batman's first encounter with villain x" kind of book it's instead literally taking things back to the start of Batman's publication history and setting the book in the 1930's. It's a novel concept and one Jurgen's executes with relish, delivering a tale that embraces both modern-day noir sensibilities but also the pulpy energy of the original period as well. What makes it truly entertaining is that it is story that focuses not only to contrasting who Batman was with the character we know now but also because it tells its own story with it's own unique blend of intrigue, action and horror. I thought playing with the Monster Men yet again would be a fools errand as there's no way it could get any better than Wagner's take, but Jurgens really defied my expectations and gave us something new while still feeling true to the concept's roots. In short it's a solid Batman story in its own right, and a much better read than the main Batman stories have been in a long time.
Art: Perkins' art is truly sublime, he delivers not only fluid action but transports us readers to a world that feels real and lived in. Gotham is a living breathing place with character and dimension under Perkins' pen, you are entranced by the backgrounds and have an unshakable desire to look just beyond that corner over there and know what is happening down that street. It's a beautiful sight to behold and its atmosphere couples perfectly with Jurgens' character driven narrative. It all makes me wonder: If DC is capable of producing a book like this why aren't the main books this good?
Grade:10/10 |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 11:25:49 GMT -5
TMNT The Last Ronin II: Re-evolution #1Written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz Art by Ben Bishop Summary: The Foot may have been defeated but New York City is still in danger and it's up to Casey Marie to lead a new generation of Turtles to save the day.
Plot: This is one of those books that after having read it I just can't help but feel that I wished that I loved it more than I actually did. Although I really enjoy the concept of a new batch of Turtles and I enjoyed seeing them develop in Lost Tales, their full introduction here feels slightly empty. At first I thought that feeling was due to there being no real preamble here, that I didn't care because there wasn't enough characterization laid down to make me feel invested...but that was true of the original too and it never bothered me. Then I thought that it's because although the book does a good job of selling that the city is in trouble and falling into anarchy it lacks a central antagonist or real sense of purpose to make you follow the heroes...and while that's certainly a sticking point, I think the main reason for my unease is a lingering nit from the end of the Last Ronin itself: the conclusion didn't break the cycle of violence. All the fun action aside, the never ending cycle of violence is the heart of the entire narrative of the Ninja Turtles; Hamato Yoshi killed Oruku Nagi in revenge for Nagi assaulting his wife Teng Shen, Nagi's broth Oruku Saki then killed Hamato Yoshi to avenge his brother, Yoshi's pet rat Splinter then raised baby turtles as his sons...and then charged them with avenging his master and so they engaged in a long battle with the foot that eventually ended in Saki's death and in the future of the last Ronin we saw that the heirs of Saki eventually took vengeance upon the Turtles until only Michaelangelo remained...and then he killed the member of the Oruko family and died himself. And so the feud did not end as now there are more Turtles and that makes me feel like that instead of truly new stories we're just going to get a rehash of what came before only with a new coat of paint on the Turtles. Maybe this story will develop beyond that and become its own thing...but it doesn't leave me feeling optimistic.
Art: At its best the art here has a truly cinematic feel, and the action is so fluid that you almost swear it's actually moving on the page. But there is also a lot of exposition in the plot and that's delivered in a series of densely paneled spreads that don't always read in the order you'd think making some pages slightly off putting making the book, like the plot itself, a little bit of a mixed bag in my mind.
Grade:7/10 (for my hopes that it improves) |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 12:59:32 GMT -5
Ultimate X-Men had some beautiful art by Peach Momoko...but it didn't feel like an X-Men story at all.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 13:33:46 GMT -5
Meanwhile, in the main Batman book we have yet another evil Batman takes over Gotham story...even after the same writer pretty much already did that in their initial story arc. I just don't get how we've flipped back to Failsafe already, only this time the Batfamily isn't sure(for some stupid reason) whether it's actually Failsafe or Bruce in a robot body.
The concept itself of people wondering if Bruce really would put himself in a robot body could be interesting...if it was done several years from now as a way of revisiting Failsafe, but only a few months after that story? Following up on it just doesn't make sense.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 14:37:25 GMT -5
As a cool aside, I reached out to Tom Waltz with a sort of "No Prize" continuity point in the Last Ronin II and he actually responded: This is a new universe. A new continuity. — Tom Waltz (@tomwaltz) March 7, 2024
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Post by DubipR on Mar 7, 2024 14:54:56 GMT -5
The Bat-Man: First Knight #1Written by Dan Jurgens Art by Mike Perkins Summary: With a slew of beastly murders on the rise Gotham's finest form an uneasy alliance with a masked vigilante.
Plot: In this new mini-series Dan Jurgens gives us a modern day re-imagining of Batman's earliest stories...but it's more than just a "Batman's first encounter with villain x" kind of book it's instead literally taking things back to the start of Batman's publication history and setting the book in the 1930's. It's a novel concept and one Jurgen's executes with relish, delivering a tale that embraces both modern-day noir sensibilities but also the pulpy energy of the original period as well. What makes it truly entertaining is that it is story that focuses not only to contrasting who Batman was with the character we know now but also because it tells its own story with it's own unique blend of intrigue, action and horror. I thought playing with the Monster Men yet again would be a fools errand as there's no way it could get any better than Wagner's take, but Jurgens really defied my expectations and gave us something new while still feeling true to the concept's roots. In short it's a solid Batman story in its own right, and a much better read than the main Batman stories have been in a long time.
Art: Perkins' art is truly sublime, he delivers not only fluid action but transports us readers to a world that feels real and lived in. Gotham is a living breathing place with character and dimension under Perkins' pen, you are entranced by the backgrounds and have an unshakable desire to look just beyond that corner over there and know what is happening down that street. It's a beautiful sight to behold and its atmosphere couples perfectly with Jurgens' character driven narrative. It all makes me wonder: If DC is capable of producing a book like this why aren't the main books this good?
Grade:10/10 I've always been a fan of Mike Perkins' art since his CrossGen days. He's always been a fantastic draftsman. I like that he's using Gregory Peck as Bruce Wayne. Gordon's looking a bit Ceasar Romero. It's a really good book Recommended. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 7, 2024 15:05:27 GMT -5
The Bat-Man: First Knight #1Written by Dan Jurgens Art by Mike Perkins Summary: With a slew of beastly murders on the rise Gotham's finest form an uneasy alliance with a masked vigilante.
Plot: In this new mini-series Dan Jurgens gives us a modern day re-imagining of Batman's earliest stories...but it's more than just a "Batman's first encounter with villain x" kind of book it's instead literally taking things back to the start of Batman's publication history and setting the book in the 1930's. It's a novel concept and one Jurgen's executes with relish, delivering a tale that embraces both modern-day noir sensibilities but also the pulpy energy of the original period as well. What makes it truly entertaining is that it is story that focuses not only to contrasting who Batman was with the character we know now but also because it tells its own story with it's own unique blend of intrigue, action and horror. I thought playing with the Monster Men yet again would be a fools errand as there's no way it could get any better than Wagner's take, but Jurgens really defied my expectations and gave us something new while still feeling true to the concept's roots. In short it's a solid Batman story in its own right, and a much better read than the main Batman stories have been in a long time.
Art: Perkins' art is truly sublime, he delivers not only fluid action but transports us readers to a world that feels real and lived in. Gotham is a living breathing place with character and dimension under Perkins' pen, you are entranced by the backgrounds and have an unshakable desire to look just beyond that corner over there and know what is happening down that street. It's a beautiful sight to behold and its atmosphere couples perfectly with Jurgens' character driven narrative. It all makes me wonder: If DC is capable of producing a book like this why aren't the main books this good?
Grade:10/10 I've always been a fan of Mike Perkins' art since his CrossGen days. He's always been a fantastic draftsman. I like that he's using Gregory Peck as Bruce Wayne. Gordon's looking a bit Ceasar Romero. It's a really good book Recommended. I definitely caught the Gregory Peck look for Bruce Wayne but didn't think Romero for Jim Gordon but there is definitely a resemblance. And yeah, this was a fantastic Batman book, I can't recommend it enough. |
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Post by johnnygobs on Mar 12, 2024 22:39:51 GMT -5
First Knight was so very good.
I’d love them to use the same formula applied to other characters.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 12, 2024 23:52:26 GMT -5
Wow, lots of good stuff last week!
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 13, 2024 11:51:31 GMT -5
Meanwhile, in the main Batman book we have yet another evil Batman takes over Gotham story...even after the same writer pretty much already did that in their initial story arc. I just don't get how we've flipped back to Failsafe already, only this time the Batfamily isn't sure(for some stupid reason) whether it's actually Failsafe or Bruce in a robot body. The concept itself of people wondering if Bruce really would put himself in a robot body could be interesting...if it was done several years from now as a way of revisiting Failsafe, but only a few months after that story? Following up on it just doesn't make sense. I really can’t be too critical of any Batman storyline as long as they don’t have somebody abducting the entire Batman family in a one-page montage because they’re upset that Batman somehow ruins his purity by having assistants. Also, I like it when they aren’t adding another contrived level to the gigantic plot to murder the Waynes, and I especially like it when it isn’t Martha’s fault for being insane and Thomas isn’t either corrupt or stupid. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 15, 2024 15:54:58 GMT -5
First Knight was so very good. I’d love them to use the same formula applied to other characters. Yeah, a similarly themed Superman book for instance would be fantastic. |
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