Whew! What a week! I was into doing the getting away from it all thing for the last few days... Anyhow, I got this one about halfway done and realised that some time had pased... Ugh. Time. Damn time.
Not wanting to be be too late writing the reviews I had already been working on, I have decided to get these up, then I'll work on All The Rage bits some, then it's back to getting another grouping of review thingies done. As you can see, I don't get very detailed on a couple of them. Like I've said before, sometimes I'll just blabble a quick string of not-always-coherent words and you'll have to live with it.
What sucks is I had to cut a few reviews because of the aformentioned time thing. I'll try to fit them in soon, though.
A solid issue with solid art. Pretty solid all around. This is just what I'd expect a good writer like John Layman to handle a story like this. The average person might not know what's going on, although there is some explanation. See, last issue Xena's BBF (Gabrielle) asked some powerful entity if she could have Xena back (who had died at the end of the series... ooops, I spoil that for anyone?). The entity complies, but it's one of the "be wary what ye wish for" kinda deals and Xena is returned to life; but she's the Xena before she turned "good". Hey, Gabs never specified which Xena she wanted, you know? Anyhow, mayhem ensues and Gabrielle realises that she has screwed everyone with having Dark Xena pop back up and wreak havoc. Joxer is back, too. I always liked that doofus. So, yeah, this issue was a nice continuation of the story. My only gripe is a geeky one: How the heck would someone be "cannon fodder"? Shouldn't they be "arrow fodder"? Regardless, this is something I'll keep reading and Xena fans should be pleased.
Score: 3.75/5 (solid, baby)
Here's something that was just plain fun to read. I never thought I would like the "Fairy Tales" stuff (didn't really give a crap about the X-Men one; then again, I don't know if I care all that much about X-Men anything... 'cept maybe UXM-- or maybe not). C.B. Cebulski's writing is strong (keep an eye on this guy!) and the art presents everything very nicely. And by that I mean that this issue is weird, and not in a bad way! A magical marriage of scripting and illustration, dontcha know. Kudos to everyone involved on this. Oh, yeah, and MJ as Little Red Riding Hood-- and it doesn't suck!
Score 4/5
Here's a comic I picked out because I wanted to try something new, and from DC no less. I like Batman as of late and I've been following the monthly-- well, kinda-- for a little bit. Apparantly Batman Confidential has to do with some Infinite Pizza continuity or something somesuch that's convoluted in the way I don't care for all that much. One of the things DC needs and needs badly are recap pages. You know, kind of like Marvel does. It would mean a world of difference and people such as myself can then just jump on to a series with little to no fear. Anyhow, Wikipedia to the rescue... Ah, I see, It's post-Infinite Crisis continuity and takes place during Batman's first year on the job. Got it. And Batman Confidential will have different creative teams through different stoy-arcs. Double got it. I like this idea, by the way.
Honestly this issue reminded me quite a bit of 2000 AD and how their stories play out. This is a very good thing to me, mind. I enjoy writer Andy Diggle's work, particularly on Hellblazer--
What's this? Diggle and Jock are doing Green Arrow: Year One? Thank you, internets. Oh, sorry, back to this issue...
So, yeah, Mr. Diggle does fine work on the script, which has the only problem of being a standard-type plot. No worries, though, as there's Lex Luthor and G.I. Robot(s)! Major pluses for me, ye ken? Also, I enjoy how Luthor is handled. He's either done right or very badly. I like how he's handled here. Then there's the art. Hmmm... Well, Whilce Portacio used to be one of my faves back when I was much younger. I really enjoyed his stuff in those days of yore. Recently I checked out the new Wetworks and it was interesting to see that Mr. Portacio's style hadn't changed all that much. This isn't that good a thing, however. In this issue, his art is either not bad a'tall or downright sloppy looking. The spotty bits make me sad, but I do Iove that cover. Once again, it reminds me of 2000 AD. All told, I enjoyed this book. It's not the greatest thing ever and it's pretty standard, but it's a lot of fun and I liked it well enough that I'll be picking up the previous five issue to see what I missed before I jumped on at the very end of an arc.
I guess that should also note that I seem to like the UK writers on Bats titles the best, all of whom have done stuff for 2000 AD. Morrison, Grant, Diggle. There's more, I'm sure. Has Dan Abnett written Batman yet? Can he? Pretty please?
Score: 3.75/5 (4 on the whole arc)
Starting off with Mogo = Awesome. Moving right along... I had to catch up on this, as I haven't read anything all that Green Lantern in a long, long time. And, hey! Is that Guy Gardner? And I don't want to punch him in the face? Another plus. What else can I say? I could go into the whole story and all that noise-- but I'm lazy and you can look it up. I'm happy to say that this issue was a hoot to read with plenty of GLC action all around. Art is nice, too. I'll be adding this to my pull list. Way to go, DC! That's two in a row!
Score 3.75/5 (like Batman Confidential, this gets 4 on the arc so far)
The long awaited series to follow up Hellboy: The Island continues to chug along at a terrific clip. Hellboy or B.P.R.D. rarely, if ever , dissapoint-- and this is no exception. A whole new element to the Hellboy world is opened up here and I couldn't be happier about it. There's really not much else to say other than Mike Mignola's writing is stronger than ever before and artist Duncan Fegredo is already on my top-list, what with him managing to so perfectly capture the spirit of Hellboy and Mignola's style and vision without comprimising his own. Truly the illustrative work fits splendidly.
Hellboy fans the planes over shouldn't be without reading this series. It's like a mortal sin or something. If not... it should be.
Score: 4.5/5
This was the wromg issue to start reading Green Arrow again. No, really. I used to read it back when it had that "mature readers" bit on the cover. Remember those days? I hardly do as I did a swell job of blotting them out through my 20s. Ahhhh, drinking.
This isn't all that bad. It's got Deathstroke and good fighting scenes. How many points do I lose from DCU fans if I admit right here, right now that I can't recall who Black Canary is... and I don't even fucking care? Sometimes drinking just doesn't leave Jagermysteries in people's lives, but it can also lead to FDCUCS (Forgetting DC Universe Characters Syndrome). That said, I'm going to judge it on it's own merits.
The story overall (in this issue) is pretty decent, although it falls victim to being rather standard. "Oh dear, my girlfriend! Please don't kill her! Kill me!" - "Muhahaha, hero! I'm going to fu--" - "Surprise! The Superfriends have showed up to make sure everything is hunky-dory! Hurrah!" and so on. And then Green Arrow proposes to the Black Parakeet chick (oh, sorry... spoiler? Thought the cover was a dead giveaway). Hm. Like I said, it's not bad. It's a good comic and I'm sure fans were pleased as punch over it. But its not for me (though I don't regret reading it).
Does Arrow and Bird-Woman-Who's-Not-Hawkgirl get married? There's a Black Canary mini-series that will answer that (because this is the last issue of the current Green Arrow series; so will they do another Green Arrow series... and if they do, what's up with that??)! My guess: She says no, or it gets interrupted, and then at the end of the mini-series we find out. Or, on the flip side-- Aw, hell with it. I really don't care. Don't listen to me.
Score: 3/5 (which is somewhat unfair; fans should dig it)
Okay, I'm done for now. I'll try to get some more reviews up soon. They may even be current, You never know!