COMIC BOOK REVIEWS FOR JULY

[Guest Steviekick]

Formerly known as the Justice League #1

Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire/Rubinstein

 

The old Justice League is being reformed by their onetime benefactor Maxwel Lord, who is being stalked by some alien. He sends out his robot L-Ron to find them out, saying he is starting a new super hero team. We learn that Booster Gold lives with some old lady, Blue Beetle has a cardiac condition, Captain Atom has a ridiculous costume, Elongated Man is bored of civilian life, Fire has an online erotica site, and they wind up getting Mary Marvel instead of Captain Marvel because he is still sensitive about them making fun of him for wanting to sing "Row row row your boat.

 

Giffen and DeMatteis wrote a very good story, it's very humorous in a sophisticated way. The art is very good, and it looks like the original series. It shows what happened to the old JL members in a really entertaining way

 

4 out of 5

 

GI Joe vs Transformers #1

Blaylock/Miller

 

This story begins as Cobra first appears and GI Joe forms. Cobra finds the Ark and rebuilds the Transformers into their classic vehicles; Optimus Prime and Ironhide turn into the HISS tanks, and the Decepticon jets turn into the Rattler VTOLs. The soldiers that will become the GI Joe team are guarding a peace talk, and Cobra attacks with their Transfomer arm.

 

The art is pretty good, and so is the story. However, at times its bogged down with too much GI Joe/Transformers references that make it kind of awkward, especially since this is an Elseworlds style story, and at times it conflicts actual chronology. Other than that it's pretty good.

 

4 out of 5

 

Battle of the Planets #11

sharrieff/Tortosa/Udon/Dreamer/Ross

 

I'm going to admit something that is sad. I love BOTP, but I have no clue what goes on in the issues. I'm sorry. I love the art and the concept, but It escapes my mind. Basicaly Spectra invades the city of Meridia with something that looks like the Green Dragonzord from Power Rangers, and Jason is really pissed about something

 

3 out of 5

 

Battle of the Planets #1/2

sharrieff/Tortosa/Udon/Dreamer/Ross

 

This has a short story about a former GForce child psychologist complaining about all of the horrible things that happened to the team as kids, like their training and all. He wants to get Chief Anderson fired. However, the black general who is in charge of the program doesn't really care and knows that GForce is fine.

 

This was a nice story that shows some character development about the team, like Alex's crush on Princess, why Tiny is apprehensive about using his powers, and Jason being a psycho. It also features Alex Ross' sketch book on the characters, and there's some amazing stuff there.

 

4 out of 5

 

Alias #24

Bendis/Gaydos

 

Jessica is initially approached by Matt Murdoch and KaZar to go to the Savage Land to find the missing cat Zabu, but she emphatically refuses. Instead, she winds up being hired thanks to a tip off from Warbird/Cap to find Killgrave by a group of suburbanites.

 

I accidentally picked this up instead of Amazing Spiderman, and I as kinda dissappointed. IT seemed interesting, but it was very slow and seemed like I had to read more previously to understand. Propably better as a whole than as a seperate.

 

2 out of 5

 

Uncanny XMen #427

Austin/Kim/Morales

 

Jubilee and Husk go ot the cemetary to visit Skin's grave. While there, they are trying to remove his body because he's a mutant and Jubilee gets into a fight with the cemetary manager, who's a mutanthater. Husk gets into a fight with one of the gravediggers over it, and he's a mutant with a power like Colossus. Skin's remains get cremated and have to leave the cemetary. Meanwhile, Angel goes to a hospital to use his super blood to help save sick children, one of whom is the cemetary manager's child.

 

This was a good self contained throwaway issue. The story was well done. I just don't like how Angel is now insanely superpowered. And i've always liked him, but this is getting ridiculous. It would have made sense for that to happen when he was Archangel and had all of the stuff that Apocalypse did to mess him up, but oh well. Still a good read.

 

4 out of 5

[Guest starvenger]

Formerly Known As The Justice League #1 (of 6), A(nother) New Beginning" (10/10)

(Keith Giffen/ JM DeMatteis/ Kevin Maguire/ Joe Rubenstein)

Irreverent humour? Check.

B-level former JLI members? Check.

Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire doing the creative duties? Check, check and check.

Guy Gardner? Nope. Not their fault, though.

A LOT of stuff crammed into 22 pages? Oh hell, yeah

 

Folks, if you only get one miniseries, choose one that suits your own personal tastes. But if you want to blow $2.50 on a good old fashioned comic, you can't do any better than FKAT Justice League. Even a casual 80's JLI reader like myself found it very easy to get into the story and humour that Giffen and DeMatteis bring.

 

Again, PICK THIS UP!!

 

eXiles #29, "Unnatural Instincts pt 2 (of 3)" (8.5/10)

(Chuck Austen/ Clayton Henry/ Mark Morales)

Another great eXiles issue from Austen as he continues to have fun playing with our "Sliders", this time in Earth 616.

 

Maximus Lobo, as a group, are pretty lame, but at least they can cover that up by kicking some serious X-ass. Plus we get some better character development of the "away team" than Austen gives us in Uncanny. Pretty good weaving of about 3 different plots, and hopefully next ish we'll see closure to both the Lobos and the Mutant X storyline.

 

Oh, and I wanted to note this line of dialogue:

Nocturne: "Dad!"

Nightcrawler: "Verdammter Mist. I KNEW I should have been more careful."

 

Well, it had ME cracking up...

 

G.I.Joe vs. The Transformers #1 (of 6) (4/10)

(Josh Blaylock/ Mike S. Miller/ Armando Durruthy)

I dunno, I can't seem to get into anything Josh Blaylock writes. Good ideas, poor execution - know what I mean?

 

In this ish, he's got the Joe/Cobra part down pat, but the Transformers? See the first Dreamwave mini for an almost IDENTICAL plot. Also, I have a hard time believing that Cobra not only figured out how to rewire the Cybertronians to obey only them, but ALSO managed to figure out how to get the Ark to adapt them to earth forms.

 

Based on this issue, I say give it a pass, and wait for the trade and/or the Dreamwave mini, which actually looks a lot more interesting...

 

Weapon X #10, "The Underground part IV" (6.5/10)

(Frank Tieri/ Georges Jeanty/ Dexter Vines and Scott Elmer)

It's been said that some stories are stretched out too long to accomodate the TPB market. This issue is proof of that. The story is good, and Tieri and Jeanty manage to a good job in creating some dramatic tension, yet I can't help but feel this issue could have been done in about half the pages. Still, it's not bad, but it's just... lacking something.

 

Uncanny X-Men #427, "The Dead Have No Rights" (7.5/10)

(Chuck Austen/ Steve Kim/ Morales, Green and Florea)

First off, why the fuck does Angel look about 20 in this ish? Anyways, this is one of those issues with the ironic twist endings that you almost seem to expect. Anyways, we get a further look at Angels secondary mutation, and we get a main story featuring Husk and Jubilee - not a bad thing in my book. Not much action though, so if you're into that... why the heck are you reading Uncanny X-Men?

 

Battle of the Planets #11 (of 12), "Destroy All Monsters Part 1" (7/10)

(Munier Sharrieff/ Wilson Tortosa/ UDON)

Solid issue featuring a new mecha and tie ins to the one shots (even, sadly, Thundercats) which should lead to a pretty exciting final ish. As far as licensed comics go, BotP hasn't gotten the most publicity, but it's been pretty consistent in quality, and we've got Alex Ross to thank for that. I wouldn't recommend jumping on now, but definitely pick up the TPB when it comes out.

[Guest starvenger]

I didn't buy any comics at the store last week, but I was at the Dallas Sci-Fi con last week, and a dealer was selling the "God Loves, Man Kills" GN in good condition for $5, so I was all over that.

 

Anyways...

Marvel Graphic Novel No 5: The X-Men "God Loves, Man Kills" (10/10)

(Chris Claremont/ Brent Eric Anderson)

As you know, this is the story that X2 was based on. Featuring arguably the most popular X-team (Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Ariel), the story focuses on a soldier-turned-preacher and his crusade to rid the world of mutants.

 

The story is quite dark, essentially an allegory for race relations present through history. Stryker is a man willing to do whatever it takes to 'cleanse' the world of mutants, even if it means using Charles Xavier to do so. If you've seen the movie, you can imagine what happens.

 

Stryker is a great character, essentially a mirror image of Magneto in terms of how mutants and humans should live. Both have an opposing view of Xavier's "can't we all get along?" view of human-mutant relations. I did find that Claremont did make things a bit convenient in how Stryker learned all about the X-Men, but I suppose that's why he had those 20 million hanging plot threads. Aside from that, nothing wrong with the story.

 

Brent Anderson's art is INTENSE, and Steve Oliff's painted colours add just that much more depth to the book. In fact, the worst thing about this book is that the Marvel higher-ups felt the need to create a sequel to it. Reading the original and GLMKII is like night and day in terms of quality.

 

Anyways, if you can find this book, PICK IT UP, but don't go out and pay more than cover for it, because you shouldn't have to, no matter what Gareb's evil mag tells you...

[Guest pochorenella]

I have the original GLMK Graphic Novel, but isn't there a new softcover edition? That shouldn't be too expensive and you're right, it's one hell of a read. Highest recommendation.

[Guest starvenger]

There is, and it's TPB size, as opposed to the oversized GN format. I got the original GN, which has a cover price of $5.95

[Guest starvenger]

G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers #2 (of 6) (4/10)

(Josh Blaylock/ Mike S. Miller/ Armando Durruthy & Cory Hamscher)

Well, I decided to give issue 2 of this a shot, and once again I was rather underwhelmed. The best part of the stories are the formation of the Joes (never thought I'd see Mercer in this book), the worst are with the Transformers and Cobra. Using Dr. Mindbender as the guy who figures out how to control the Cybertronians is a nice touch, but still there's too much crap when it comes to this. For instance, how could Cobra take ALL of the Cybertronians from the Ark, yet "conveniently" manage to miss Bumblebee and Wheeljack? Plus, the generic HISS and Rattler forms make the Transformers look, well, dull.

 

Anyways, one bonus point for having a Joe code-named "Spike". And one bonus point taken away for listing him as "Spike Witwicky" when EVERY OTHER NAME has the surname first. Again, I'm looking forward to Transformers vs G.I. Joe because it's gotta be tons better than this dreck, especially with John Ney Reiber and Jae Lee as the creative team.

 

Speaking of Transformers...

 

Transformers Generation 1 #4 (of 6), "War and Peace: Passive Aggression" (7.5/10)

(Brad Mick/ Pat Lee/ Rob Armstong)

We've got about 3 different storylines happening as Ultra Magnus is all Furmanesque badass, taking down Menasor, Grimlock tries to take down Shockwave and Prime meets... well, the Wreckers, I guess. Although Wheelie probably shouldn't be a Wrecker.

 

Lee once again does some great art - even throwing in things such as "rub symbols" and Mick captures the feel of the Transformers like Blayfield only wishes he could.

 

Keeping with the robot theme...

 

Voltron: Defender of the Universe #3 (of 5), "Revelations part 3" (6/10)

(Dan Jolley/ Mike Norton & Clint Hilinski/ Clayton Brown)

Basically more Voltron goodness as the team manages to activate 3 more lions but can't find the black one. Also, Sven has dizzy spells after piloting the blue lion - man they're accelerating that plot thread, aren't they?

 

Anyways, a brisk issue that makes me wish for a Voltron vs Super Sentai movie. A good read.

 

Back to mainstream comics...

 

Teen Titans #1 (8/10)

(Geoff Johns/ Mike McKone/ Marlo Alquiza)

Man, they crammed a lot of stuff into 22 pages. I got this late because the first printing disappeared faster than hot dogs in front of Kobayashi. I've seen better art from McKone, but this is his first Titans work so I'll cut him some slack here. It's all about the build, anyways, which Johns has done incredibly well here. We see that the former Young Justice members join the team, but really don't know why. Future issues should probably build on that.

 

The only thing I'm unsure of is the "weekend club" mentality of the team. It's kinda like the "mall" eps of SBTB: The New Class - it just doesn't feel the same. Still, an excellent debut ish and something I'll pick up to see how it goes.

 

Weapon X #11 (7/10)

(Frank Tieri/ Georges Jeanty/ Dexter Vines & Scott Elmer)

A nice change of pace from Marvel's "Main Event Style" plot speed, as a lot of things are juggled at once. Mesmero is sent off to neverland, Washout burns out, the Director manipulates and is likewise manipulated, and the Underground FINALLY infiltrates the compound.

 

My main complaint are that sometimes it takes a bit to determine whether the asides are from Nathan or the Director, and that they're basically spelling out the fact that there will be a quintiple-cross next issue. Still, a pretty decent read, if you haven't started picking this up already.