Reviews Archives - Page 4 of 7

Review: Suicide Squad #1 (DC) 2011

September 20, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Adam Glass
Artists: Federico Dallocchio, Ransom Getty, Scott Hanna
Colorist: Val Staples
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ryan Benjamin
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Cover Date: November 2011

Title: “Kicked in the Teeth”

Take a bunch of dangerous death row inmates, organize them, send them on nearly impossible and highly perilous covert OPS, and what do you get – Suicide Squad.

Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Tiger Shark are just a few of the inmates from Belle Reve Penitentiary that were chosen to be part of Suicide Squad. They were captured and are being tortured by a mysterious group that are trying to find out who the Suicide Squad works for. During their torture, several members of the group individually recall how they were captured.

Review: Swamp Thing #1 (DC)

September 9, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Yanick Paquette
Colors: Nathan Fairbairn
Letters: John J. Hill
Cover: Yanick Paquette, Nathan Fairbairn
Editor: Chris Conroy, Matt Idelson
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Date: November 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Title: “Raise Dem Bones”

Scott Snyder is no stranger to horror stories; he’s won an Eisner and a Harvey Award for his work on DC’s American Vampire and his current work also includes Image’s Severed miniseries. So it seems fitting that he’d be chosen to take on a character who was first introduced in the horror anthology title House of Secrets.

Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, the character was conceived as Alec Holland mutating into Swamp Thing after being dowsed by an experimental formula and being burned alive. When Alan Moore reinvented Swamp Thing in the 1980’s, he explained that Swamp Thing was an elemental entity that absorbed Holland’s memories and personality upon death. Therefore removing all human aspects from the creature and, in essence, making him an elemental god as it were.

Review: Animal Man #1 (DC)

September 8, 2011September 8, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Jeff Lemire
Pencils: Travel Foreman
Inks: Travel Foreman, Dan Green
Colors: Lovern Kindzierski
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Travel Foreman, Lovern Kindzierski
Editor: Kate Stewart, Joey Cavalieri
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Date: November 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Title: “The Hunt – Part One: Warning From The Red”

Animal Man is one of those DC superheroes that wasn’t initially a big hit. That all changed in the 1980’s when Grant Morrison and Chas Truog revamped the character. Morrison started to integrate Buddy Baker’s family into the title and when Jamie Delano took over, the book took on a horror slant.

Review: The Intrepid Escapegoat #1 (Th3rd World)

September 6, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Brian Smith
Illustrator: Brian Smith
Colors: Mike DeVito, Jon Conkling
Color Assists: Josh Norwood, Tim Conkling, Don Pielert
Letterer: Sarah Smith
Publisher: Th3rd World Studios
Cover Date: September 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

Title: “The Curse of Buddha’s Tooth”

Thomas Fleet is the Intrepid Escapegoat, a world renowned escape artist, who along with his trusty assistant Isis, travel the world performing amazing feats of magic. The square-jawed gentleman goat’s assistant, isn’t just named Isis – She’s the real Isis – whom he rescued from a pyramid in Cairo months ago.

The pair travel about, not only performing spectacular magic tricks, but also debunking those who would use “magic” to con gullible people. Fleet is like the Amazing Kreskin if Kreskin were a suit wearing goat in 19th century England with the Egyptian Goddess Isis as his assistant. Um, yeah…

Isis is depicted as a small girl in the comic, but when the part is held up by a few young urchins in the streets of London, she really shows off her powers.

Review: Daredevil #2 (Marvel)

September 5, 2011August 25, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Mark Waid
Penciler: Paolo Rivera
Inker: Joe Rivera
Colors: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Editor: Ellie Pyle, Stephen Wacker
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: October 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Title: “Red, White, Black and Blue”

The current incarnation of Daredevil by Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera has something that readers have long missed from the title – it’s fun to read. Gone are the tragedies that befall Matt Murdock at every turn and the deep clawed monkeys that cling to his back. This version of Murdock/Daredevil is not about what happens in his life, but how he can help others.

The story opens with a fight between Daredevil and Captain America, as Cap tries to bring in Daredevil to answer for what he’s done in the past. The fight sequence is classic Daredevil and Paolo Rivera’s artwork, flowing from panel to panel, hearkens back to what I loved about the character.

Review: The Red Wing #2 (Image)

August 23, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Pitarra
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Date: August 2011
Cover Price: $3.50

Title: “Learning to Fall”

Legacy cadets Valin and Dominic made it into the Red Wing and are training in simulators to hone their flying and fighting skills. Dom’s skills are requiring a little more work than he’d anticipated.

Dom seeks help from the General in order to understand his mistakes in combat. He doesn’t have the full grasp of time. The General then explains to him about the different frequencies and slices that define what is time.

Review: The Intrepids #6 (Image)

August 22, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer, co-creator: Kurtis J. Wiebe
Illustrator, co-creator: Scott Kowalchuk
Cover, Designer: Scott Kowalchuk
Colorist: Donna Gregory
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Script Editor: Brittany Matter
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Date: August 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Title: “End of an Era”

The Intrepids #6 unfortunately marks the end of this six issue mini series, but it does so with a bang! The Intrepids come to a realization they’ve been manipulated by their benefactor Dante. This time Dante uses Chester to carry out his bidding remotely by use of a helmet that he uses to control Chester. The team then sides with Dr. Koi in an effort to bring down their leader.

If you’re looking for action, this issue does not disappoint. It’s got cyborgs, car crashes, gung-ho mad scientists, attack baboons with machine guns, attack baboons with Taser prods, cybernetic bears, and computer hacking – I’d like to see Marvel or DC top that!

Review: Spider Island: Cloak & Dagger #1 (Marvel)

August 11, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Emma Rios
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Cover: Mike Choi
Editor: Alejandro Arbona, Stephen Wacker
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: October 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

Having read and enjoyed Cloak & Dagger in the 1980’s, I was worried that this would be another lame attempt at bringing the duo back into the limelight. It turns out Nick Spencer has a good grasp of the characters and does a great job of making them interesting.

The issue starts off with a quick origin montage to bring everyone up to speed. We then find Ty & Tandy about to be evicted from their place of residence in Holy Ghost Church so it can be demolished. From there the duo have to figure out where they’re going to stay and how they’ll support themselves. While they’re trying to do just that, the Avengers come along to enlist their help in keeping order in the Spider Island segment of the story.

Review: X-Men: Schism #2 (Marvel)

August 9, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Frank Cho
Colorist: Jason Keith
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Artist: Frank Cho, Jason Keith
Production: Irene Y. Lee
Editor: Jordan D. White, Daniel Ketchum, Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: September 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

Title: “Schism” Part Two

Let’s see, last issue we had Kade Kilgore kill his father by shooting him after he falls out of a flying limo, Kade becomes the new Black King of The Hellfire Club, Quentin Quire renews humans’ hatred of mutants causing them to declare war on Utopia, and The Sentinels are taken out of mothballs to fight mutants. So you can expect this issue to be pretty hectic.

We learn a few things in Schism Part Two: old Sentinels just don’t hold up over time, don’t make deals with the Badoon, Kade Kilgore’s young friends and NOT to be trifled with, why go looking for someone when they’ll eventually just come to you, and if Steve Rodgers is calling… just act like everything’s under control!

Review: X-Men: Schism #1 (Marvel)

September 5, 2011August 7, 2011 by The Comic Book Critic

Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover artist: Carlos Pacheco, Cam Smith, Frank D’Armata
Production: Irene Y. Lee
Editor: Jordan D. White, Daniel Ketchum, Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: September 2011
Cover Price: $4.99

Title: “Schism” Part One

In this issue, Scott Summers and Wolverine travel to Switzerland to address an International Arms Control conference on behalf of Utopia. Scott appeals to the Nations of the world to decommission all of their mutant hunting Sentinels; The X-Men would assist in their dismantling. This does not go over well though.

During this discussion, they are interrupted by Kid Omega, who somehow has gotten free from his containment by the X-Men. He uses his telepathic powers to compel the leaders to reveal their darkest secrets on live television. Deeming this an attack, security then releases several Sentinel robots to take down the mutants.