Guest starvenger Report post Posted June 6, 2003 Uncanny Melrose Place #425, "Sacred Vows pt 1" (4/10) So Michael (Havok) is supposed to get married to uber-psycho bitch Kimberley (Polaris) - who sleeps with a stripper that resembles Jake (Gambit) but as it turns out he's in love with Jane (Annie). Meanwhile Billy (Iceman) is in a funk because he apparently still has a thing for Kim, so he does the most obvious thing - he sleeps with Jane. Which makes Michael unhappy as he calls off the wedding, pissing off Kimberley and she threatens to do something psychotic. And of course, the token gay guy (Northstar) goes to the bachelorette party. ...anyways, as you can tell, this storyline seems to have been lifted straight from an Aaron Spelling show, but that doesn't fully account for the low score. The rest come from editor Mike Marts assigning Philip Tan this story. Tan's art style is like a cross between manga and Mark Texiera, and looks damn nice. However, his art style would be better served in a book with action in it - something that's quite lacking here. For a better book featuring the X-Men, check out the next one I'm reviewing... eXiles #28, "Unnatural Instincts pt 1" (7.5/10) It woulda been 8, but I had to dock a half-point for Dale Keown's (yes, THAT Dale Keown) "Wolverine doing #2 in the fog" cover. I hope I don't have to explain what a number 2 is. Anyways, it appears that the eXiles have landed on Earth 616, home of the mainstream Marvel U. And their assignment it apparently to stop - by any means necessary - the evil, Mutant X personality that will emerge from out of Havok's body. No, I don't understand either, but it's nice to see that one of Mackie's ideas was actually good for something. Anyways, the story works quite nicely - not surprising, given Austen's familiarity with the Uncanny team. Clayton Henry's artwork is just beautiful. If you can get around the Keown cover, you're in for a treat. Lobo Unbound #1 (of 6) (7/10) The Main Man is back, and kicking ass in a story that, well, is pretty much what you expect from a Lobo book. From the Seuss-like "origin" of Lobo to fighting a guy with some serious cajones to crabs, it's what a Lobo book should be. And Alex Horley's artwork is just amazing - he totally captures the feel of what Lobo should be. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest HHH123007 Report post Posted June 6, 2003 I agree with the Uncanny review....I bought it today and was very disappointed... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest starvenger Report post Posted June 30, 2003 OK, here's a fresh batch of reviews, just in time for the end of the month!! New Mutants #2 (8/10) (Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir/ Keron Grant/ Rob Stull) This ish introduces us to Laurie, obviously another girl that Dani and "the kids" will be in charge of. Oddly enough, her powers are pheremones. I mean, they just ditched Stacy X (btw anyone think she'll end up in Weapon X, like Maggott?) and they've got another one. Well, at least she's the exact opposite of Stacy. The story, once again, has no action, but that's obviously not the focus of the story. We get a look at the school and the students in everyday routines, which actually isn't as boring as you might think. Sofia and Laurie end up being roommates, and that should prove to be interesting for the writers in future issues. Art by Keron Grant is very nice, and while I've no idea why Moonstar's all nekkid on the cover, it's a nice one. If you missed #1, pick this up. Or wait for the TPB, no big whoop. As The Uncanny X-World Turns#426, "Sacred Vows pt 2" (6.5/10) (Chuck Austen/ Phillip Tan) Well, the art was MUCH better this ish. I think I was right about Tan being better suited to action as opposed to the soap opera talking. Still, lots of soap opera elements but the right ending to a rather rushed storyline. Also, I gotta say that Alex knew Cannonball could fly and he NEVER thought that he could use is plasma blasts the same way? Fucking genius. Let's move on... Truth: Red, White and Black #6 (of 7), "The Whitewash" (5/10) (Robert Morales/ Kyle Baker) Captain America FINALLY finds out that there were Super Soldiers before him, and goes out to try and find out what happened to Isiah Bradley. That's about it, really, and that's the reason for the low score. Morales weaves a good story, but seriously, couldn't they have compressed this to 4-5 issues instead of stretching it out for the TPB? X-Treme X-Men #27, "God Loves, Man Kills II part 3" (3/10) (Chris Claremont/ Igor Kordey/ Scott Hanna) Was Mt. Haven shown anywhere but in the cartoon? I can't remember. Anyways, Kordey's art is more consistent this week, but again the story is kind of boring and forced (which isn't surprising, seeing as the story WAS requested from higher up). Anyways, you'd think that having Cannonball and Shadowcat in the story would make it more interesting, and you'd be very, very wrong. I think I will simply continue to try and find a copy of the original... Voltron: Defender of the Universe #2 (of 5), "Revelations" (7/10) (Dan Jolley/ Mike Norton and Clint Hilinski/ Clayton Brown) Another solid issue from the Voltron team, as they start weaving their own take on the Voltron mythology. As much as I liked the original, this is more in line with the "modern" feel of this futuristic tale. This is easily the best book Devil's Due has out there. If you like your comics with lots of action, this is the book for you. Transformers v2 #3 (of 6), "War and Peace: Cold War" (8/10) (Brad Mick/ Pat Lee/ Rob Armstrong) Sometimes, it's the little details that help make the overall comic a treat to read. In the case of the licensed comics, I can't help but look for that. Thinks like a scanner displaying Jazz's American AND Japanese names ("Meister") make Transformers fun to read. Anyways, Starscream scheming? Check. Dinobots being badd ass? Check. Mick pulling a Furman and offing a 'bot just for the hell of it? Check. The reintroduction of a combiner team? Check. What's not to love? That's all for June... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Steviekick Report post Posted June 30, 2003 Lemme throw some reviews in, too... Masters of the Universe Icons of Evil: Beast Man (robert kirkman/tony moore/val staples) Story: This is the first of the spotlight one-shots about the He-Man villains, and this tell us how Beast Man wound up being a baddie. Kaldor (Skeletor before he became deformed) went looking to find Beast Man to recruit him for his army, but he wanted no part of it, they wind up brawling, destroy a village, and wind up being captured by the King of Beast Man's people. The two are put in a gladiator type fight, Kaldor kills the King and Beastie gets the blame, and now has to begrudingly stay with Kaldor, because if he returns, he will be executed for assasination. Sucks to be him Art: Moore's art accurately captures the look of the new MOTSU toy line and cartoon show and it works very well with this series. Score: 7/10 (a pretty good read, but nothing memorable0 Batman 616 jeph loeb/jim lee Hushamania continues to disturb Batman. He decides that he should get in contact with Ra's Al Ghul. Instead of sending an email or leaving a phone message, he kidnaps his daughter Talia and hides her with Catwoman. Ra's doesn't like conventional communication either, and he leaves a sword through one of the computers in the Batcave. Bats goes off to find Ra's, he has to beat him to get his help, and Batman outduals Ra's to get the clue "who would you like to bring back from the dead." Meanwhile, Harvey Dent (now that his face is nice and handsome and not 2Face like) tells Commissioner Gordon that the bullets used to kill Bats' friend Tommy were from his gun and that they're both pawns in a larger game. Ra's sends the assassin Shiva to rescue his daughter, but Talia stops her because she hates when her father interferes in her life. Art: This is Jim Lee we're talking about. I'm totally biased that he's the most amazing artist ever. No contest Score: 6/10 (This was a good issue, but it was just more information to further the Hush story. It just gave the clues that it was Gordon's Gun that killed Tommy, and that Ra's has found corrupted Lazarus Pits and gave the hint to Batman about who he would like to come back from the dead. That was it for the issue, and the fight between Batman/Ra's was kinda blah. I expected more.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Steviekick Report post Posted June 30, 2003 here's some more Namor 3 jemas/wason/larocca/miki Story: Namor and his friend Bobo go up to the surface world to hang out with this girl Sandy he met at the beach. Keep in mind that this story takes place in the early 1900s-ish or something. Namor really likes Sandy, but it seems that she may like Bobo a little more. Namor winds up going to a dance with Sandy where he shows his temper by beating up this guy who was flirting with Sandy. The story ends with Namor taking Sandy into the ocean. (6/10) Inhumans 2 mckeever/clark/nelson We learn that our grroup of young adult Inhumans which includes Tonaja (the one that looks like a hot flying alien from the first Inhumans series) and San (he's new and his terragenesis mist power is making clay sculptures and looks like a bunny on crack) have found out from Queen Medusa that they are going to Earth against their wishes to be part of a student exchange program and will go to college in America. (6/10) I read somewhere that these two titles that ar part of Marvel's "Tsunami" line were being somewhat aimed at the teenage girl market that likes anime, and I sadly think that these two titles are being affected by it imensely. Namor has not had any major conflict, aside from the whole Sandy thing. The only action in the three issues of the series came when Namor and Bobo fought off a shark. I really liked the Inhumans miniseries, but this one doesn't do anything for me really. It was much cooler when the focus of the Inhumans was on how odd their society was, not this silly college exchange crap. I hope these get better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest starvenger Report post Posted June 30, 2003 I read somewhere that these two titles that ar part of Marvel's "Tsunami" line were being somewhat aimed at the teenage girl market that likes anime, and I sadly think that these two titles are being affected by it As I understand it Tsunami is a push to get more TPBs into bookstores. I mean, how do you market Venom as a girl's book? But as no Tsunami book has hit bookstores yet, it's hard to say how well they'll go down. Hopefully they won't be like Crossgen, where my local Barnes and Noble has nearly two shelves of their TPBs sitting there collecting dust... --- New Mutants is the same way as Namor and Inhumans with the talk and occasional action, but it at least has the luxury of being tied to the X-Universe. If they can make it so that the kids have Leave it to Chance-type adventures, then I'll be happy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
