Comic Book Review – Magnus Robot Fighter #1

Another Dark Horse/Gold Key revival, once again written by Jim Shooter.  And right of the bat, it feels very familiar to anyone who has read Magnus before and they’re staying fairly true to script without changing everything up and I like that.
The original Gold Key version of Magnus Robot Fighter was done by Russ Manning and is a classic still today.  In fact, you can still purchases the archive versions and trust me, they are HIGHLY recommended with much gusto!  Valiant Comics brought this back in the 1990’s and this title help Valiant catch fire and produce some great books, including the run of John Ostrander that was truly epic.  The Ostrander issues you can pick up super cheap, just check eBay for lots of them.  My tip is to search “magnus comic lot” and you’ll find something pretty cheap, I assure you.
So issue #1 rolls out and what do I see?  Well, first of all, an excellent cover done by Raymond Swanland.  It’s an awesome image and as a side note, Raymond was discovered for his artwork he did for Magic: The Gathering cards.  Our artist for this issue is Bill Reinhold.  He does a decent job and keeps things pretty simple, but I think the colors and inking leave it feeling a tad overshaded at times so we can’t see as much of the artist.  Feels a bit muddy in spots because of that.  But I think Reinhold does a good job and it feels like he’s trying to do a little homage to Russ Manning with his art and who can blame him?
The story is pretty standard fare.  There is a “Metal Mob” which is something a little new and could be very interesting with different “robs” than what we’ve seen in the past.  I’ll be very interested to see where that story arc goes.  Then we get a lot of background, which stays pretty true to form and doesn’t stray a ton from the original.  There are some genuinely good moments in here, just nothing that’s outstanding yet.  But that’s not a bad thing, this issue is very good for newcomers, but it just lacks the wow factor if you already know Magnus.  This Magnus is very much like the one we see in the Gold Key/Valiant line so far.  No crazy plots like in the Acclaim comics version.  Oh boy, I had to bring that one up.  Ugh.
There is another great bonus to this first issue though!  It is 56 pages long and includes the Original Magnus Robot Fighter comic in it as well by Russ Manning.  The story is still good to this day and very enjoyable.  But all this does is enhance this issue’s value.  So if you like Magnus already, you know you want it and it’s worthwhile.  If you’ve never read Magnus before, jump on now and get a great value for $3.50!  That makes it a must buy in my books!  This one is off to a better start than Doctor Solar, but I’m still holding out hope that next issue rocks my proverbial socks off.
    


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Comic Book Review – Magnus Robot Fighter #1

Quick Comic Book Reviews – August 8th, 2010

 

Brightest Day #6 – Wow, I really wish I knew where the heck any of this was going.  We keep getting weird little revelations from the past of characters and trying to piece it all together is making me feel like there’s no connection.  This is a largely Martian Manhunter centric issue with Hawkgirl and Hawkman nowhere to be seen, but I don’t exactly find myself caring what the hell happened to them.  The only part of the story that really interests me is the one going on with Hawk & Dove and Deadman.  Now that’s the storyline I’m enjoying as it unfolds, but boy, it is slow going.  This issue is decent and seems to balance things out a tad better than other issues.  None of the artwork is really terrible, but with so many artists it is hard to judge.  I hope we hit some pay-offs soon because this is looking like a bust of Ryan Leaf proportions.  This issue is decent though, not enough to be a buy.

Amazing Spider-Man #638 – Hey, Jim Shooter gets some work reprinted in this one.  Makes it worth buying right?  Let’s see!  So Joe Quesada finally decided that this erased history with M.J. and Peter Parker should finally come to a close.  The experiment, to me, failed.  The issues just felt weird the whole time, so yeah, I’m interested in seeing how they piece this one back together.  We get a cobbled together story using the old artwork and story and adding in some new stuff to create a whole new “time-line” for what happened to cause MJ and Peter to NOT be married.  Kind of an interesting concept, not sure how well it was executed.  That being said, the artwork is all over the place and the best is really the artwork from the Spiderman annual where he marries MJ.  I thought some of Quesada’s artwork in One More Day was bullocks, here he can hide it by blending it in with other artists.  Quesada’s art has never thrilled me and his art seems to get worse the more time he has off from drawing.  This issue I wanted to be good, but it all feels damned disjointed and a tad confusing.  Skip this issue and hope the next one is worth it.

Zatanna #3 – What’s this?  Zatanna is actually FUN to read?  Yes, amazing things do happen and Paul Dini has managed to turn another boring character into something interesting.  For the first few issues we’ve been dealing with Brother Night and tracking him down.  In fact, issue #2 was an absolute blast and if you haven’t bought it yet, you really should.  This brings to conclusion the 3 issue story arc.  I’m hoping we’ll get to see plenty more where this came from too.  I thought Stephane Roux’s artwork was quite good and everything in the issues just seems to work.  While this isn’t quite as strong as the other two issues, it was still very enjoyable.  This issue really seemed to zoom by and the climatic battle was a tad anti-climatic.  It felt like this issue could have been extended out into two and given us a better send-off to the story.  But given what it is, a good and entertaining issue, just not what the last two were.  Buy if you’re looking to give something new a try.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #10 – This series is really getting better as of late.  In this one we are treated to the mind of Moon Knight as he takes on a mission with the new assembled Secret Avengers.  We get a decent yarn being spun and a look at what Moon Knight is thinking.  Makes for an interesting story and it is all over in one-shot.  No big two-parter or anything.  The story is very well written by Gregg Hurwitz, but the artwork is phenomenal.  I’m not sure how to best describe it besides it has a bit of a style you’ve seen out of Robert Crumb, but with a more realistic flavor thrown in at the same time.  And guess what?  It works.  The thing I like about Juan Jose Ryp’s artwork is that there is not much room for taking shortcuts.  With that style, you’re almost guaranteed that every panel is going to have an amazing amount of detail to it.  It is really fun to see and I can’t wait to see him on other projects.  Thoroughly impressed.  This issue isn’t a must buy, but it is worth picking up if you’re looking at picking up an extra title this month.

Shadowland #2 – So in this issue Daredevil finally decides if the heroes aren’t with him, they’re against him.  Haven’t we seen that somewhere before?  This seems to be building towards Daredevil’s downfall.  But once again, haven’t we seen something just like that recently?  Maybe Marvel will surprise me.  I do still like the fact that the Hand is corrupting him and he’s taking more extreme measures.  Despite everything else, this issue is pretty good.  We got a major surprise in it that would be ruined if you look at some of the upcoming titles in the Shadowland crossover.  Thankfully I really didn’t pay attention to that, so I was actually surprised and happy about it.  Spiderman does seemingly randomly shows up in this issue and Marc Spector joins the fray, but we knew he would all along.  The artwork is fine, no real complaints in this issue and things continue to unfold as Matt Murdock continues to lose his grip on things.  Andy Diggle is super busy with this series and it seems like it is coming together now and that’s a good sign.  Worth picking up!

X-Men #1 – Ok, seriously.  Who thought Mutants vs. Vampires was a good idea?  Sounds like an attempt to jump on the vampire craze that’s going on.  Marvel has single-handedly decided to kill any momentum the vampire craze has by bringing it back to comic form.  Congratulations Marvel!  Seriously, this whole concept does nothing for me.  We have an exploding vampire and a former X-Man get infected so she’s going to become a vampire.  The only good thing out of this series might be the fact that Blade returns next issue.  The storyline just seems hokey and the writing by Victor Gischler is even worse.  The artwork by Paco Medina is fair enough though and that’s about the only bright spot I could find.  This entire storyline is unfortunate because we’re coming out of an event “Second Coming” that I thought was quite good in classic X-Men major event tradition.  But in this, it’s like they’re almost ignoring most of what happened.  They should be patching things up, Storm should still be pissed at Scott, lots of things just don’t work in this issue.  This issue bites in more ways than one.

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Quick Comic Book Reviews – August 8th, 2010

Quick Comic Book Reviews – August 3rd, 2010

Once again, just a quick series of reviews.  I’m finding it easier to do these quick reviews due to lack of time to breakdown each issue separately.  Plus this way I get more read, so kind of a win-win.  This should help you figure out if an issue might be worth picking up.  But then again, my opinion is just that, and my opinion might just be lousy.  Utilize at your own risk.  :-) 

New Avengers #2 – Here is a series that continues on with the same New Avengers we had gotten to know.  Spiderman, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Thing, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye and Mockingbird.  So we’ve seen this team-up, not much NEW about it really besides The Thing.  However, in the second issue of the New New series, we start figuring out some things that are happening with Damien Hellstrom, Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo.  We’re still figuring out who wants the Eye of Aga-what’s-his-face.  We still get the great banter from Wolverine and Spiderman that we come to expect, including Spidey getting a baby monitor to take into battle so he doesn’t miss anything.  Lots of good little things, solid artwork, make this a good comic.  If you liked em before, you’ll like em again, even with the mystical hocus pocus stuff.  Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen cook up a good one.  Solid buy!

Legion of Superheroes #3 – Paul Levitz is back with a vengeance and boy is it a fun ride so far!  I’m going to give Levitz huge praise, because he is one of the few writers who can efficiently handle a ton of heroes and keep them all interesting and make them feel important.  Geoff Johns should take notes for Brightest Day.  Paul keeps giving us more and more questions and surprises.  Making Earth Boy a Green Lantern seems to be a red herring, but more importantly, the way Earth Boy is in an uncomfortable alliance with the Legion is excellent.  There is more storyline packed in these pages than you could hope for in most comics now days and the artwork backs it all up.  Terrific storytelling in all aspects and makes this a MUST BUY!  I simply do not want to miss an issue and boy, the end of this one really has me excited!  Gotta run and get it!

Justice League: Generation Lost #5 – The title seems to be hitting its stride now.  The new Blue Beetle is utilized well, Rocket Red is a bit of a hypocrite, but at least they explain it.  The artwork is decent enough stuff, nothing bad nor terrible.  In this issue Max Lord makes a proposition to everyone that they can take or leave.  But what will it be?  Captain Atom has to make a big decision and Aaron Lopresti’s pencils do a tremendous job of capturing a superb moment of drama.  The interplay of the team is solid as they try and figure out what to do.  I’m intrigued to see where it is all going as Max Lord is a downright bastard.  Well paced issue, the team is starting to gel more and the story is starting to unfold well.  Buy if you love the characters, might be a near miss otherwise.

Superman #701 – JMS brings his take to Superman and so far so good.  We don’t have him battle big bad monster of the week.  This is Superman’s effort to step back into his role with Earth as the protector of it.  But he finds himself looking to help the common people a bit more.  I like it, it has a good feel with Superman getting more touch with his human side and right now with the way things are in the world, this is a good thing.  To see him interacting with normal people and realizing their struggles reconnects Superman with his own human side, I think that’s important.  Superheroes sometime have to reflect what’s going on in their world and right now there are lots of people out there in need, people who have problems that are fairly ordinary.  It is fun to think, what if Superman could help you?  I like it so far.  Buy if you’re looking for a different kind of Superman story.

Green Arrow #2 – First off, did I waste my time reading that or what?  I actually thought the first issue was alright, but the follow-up seemed to have little purpose and was quite short.  It didn’t feel right all around.  The artwork was weak, especially considering the guy couldn’t even draw the Green Lantern symbol correctly, and the story was worse.  And btw, if your Green Lantern ring loses its power in the forest, wouldn’t that mean that the costume disappears too?  Ugh, just ugh.  We’re no closer to solving the mystery of the forest and the “shocker” at the end seems just out of the blue.  So much so that I don’t even care what next issue brings to Oliver Queen.  Really just plain awful.  Don’t waste your money!

Green Lantern #56 – Does Hal Jordan always wear a shiny outfit?  I didn’t think so, but Doug Mahnke sure thinks so and I don’t care for his rendition.  Usually I like his artwork, it just never seemed to feel in place during this issue.  Geoff John’s writing even seemed particularly hokey in this one.  I had been a little curious about this storyline, but less so after this issue.  First I have to sit through a joke about a Pink Flamingo.  Did that joke survive the 80’s?  We have Hector Hammond rumbling on about some mystery we don’t really no much about.  There is an overlying story about the entities in the lanterns and that just didn’t grab me.  The only decent part was with The Question being put back to rest.  Other than that, a veritable ick-fest.  I love a good Green Lantern story and this is not it.  Skip it!

Green Lantern Corps #50 – Wow, 50th issues are usually monumental type issues, this one, not so much.  Tony Bedard is one of my favorite writers and the stories he has been writing have been moving along fairly well.  This issue however is a near miss. Ardian Syaf does a fine job with the artwork in this issue and his Hank Henshaw, Cyborg Superman whatever you want to call him is spot-on.  The issue flies by and you’re really mostly left with a flashback/where Cyborg Superman has been issue.  The amount of things that actually happened could have probably been done in about 2-4 pages.  That’s disappointing when you’re spending money on it.  So you’re basically learning what happened to Cyborg Superman when everyone thought he was dead.  Really nothing too interesting when it boils down to it.  Can’t recommend this one.

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Quick Comic Book Reviews – August 3rd, 2010

Quick Comic Reviews – July 31st, 2010

Just a quick rundown of some things that are recent that I’ve been reading the past few weeks.  Maybe you’ll find this helpful if you’re looking to buy some of these new titles.

Shadowland #1 – So now we see what’s going on with the Daredevil after he’s taken a break in the Marvel Universe.  First off, he’s got a new costume which looks pretty appropriate and he’s taken of the Hand.  The heroes of the Marvel Universe are starting to worry about Matt Murdock’s state of mind as well.  In this issue we see Daredevil eventually square off with Bullseye and we see exactly what Murdock is now capable of.  The artwork is alright but inconsistent in spots.  The problem with the issue is the content seems to go way too fast.  For what you pay, you feel like you just got started and it is over.  But an interesting but not totally necessary issue.  Decent, not a buy for me.

 

Daredevil #508 – A bit stronger in story than in the first issue of Shadowland and fantastic artwork.  Wow, everything is so grim and moody and the artwork of Roberto De Le Torre is right on spot here.  I feel that perpetual rain and feeling of something foreboding in the air.  Excellent issue as things pick up a bit and we have a few plot twists involved and some questions to be answered.  We all know eventually Matt Murdock will pull free of this, but part of me likes him more as this dark vigilante who is maintaining the peace with an unwavering hand.  Definite Buy! 

 

 

 

Captain America #607 – First, I can’t tell whether the inker or the penciller is being way too lazy on some pages or what.  Sometimes Cap looks like he was drawn by an 8 year old and inked in by the same 8 year old.  I can’t figure it out.  Then some pages are very strong, so I’m not sure I get it.  The story was ok as we get more involved with Baron Zemo’s master manipulations.  Common fair, get tired of the Nazi stuff after awhile, but whatever.  Then we also get a back-up story involving Nomad.  This isn’t as strong a follow-up to the story in last issue, but it’s decent fair with good artwork and bright vivid colors.  If you’re a fan of the Young Allies, this is a must.  Otherwise, it is decent, but not quite there.

 

The Avengers #3 – At first I wasn’t sure about John Romita as the artist for the Avengers.  I take it back, I’m starting to enjoy it.  He’s got kind of a sketchy style without being overly detailed and it’s the kind of artwork that’s sometimes missing in comics today.  Simple artwork, good crisp colors, with him and Bendis, it feels like a true Avengers comic.  The last few years the Avengers have been at the low point in their history and it’s nice to see we can get back to Heroes being Heroes again.  I really liked this issue for some reason.  It was fun, had a fast paced story and had a lot of good moments and the artwork did a splendid job.  If you like the old Avengers, I feel this is a must buy!

 

 

The Flash #4 – So far, Geoff Johns is writing a pretty good series here.  This book is a bit quicker of a read then I would like.  You have a sequence that should only take up 2 pages take up several and it feels like that is probably just so they can have a reveal at the end.  That can be a problem now days with the main writers doing several stories every month in different titles.  In a way, you can’t blame them for it.  However, with the price of comics, I hate these lazy habits.  So other than that little rant, a decent story, some facts (or are they?) revealed and the story continues on.  Due to the several page gimmick though, we don’t feel like we got very far in the issue and that is disappointing.  Buy if you’re a Flash fan, otherwise you can probably skip it.

 

 
 

Young Allies #1 – I’m a sucke r for the newer Nomad and her sad story of being without a world and really, without a home.  Gravity is a character that really interests me and seeing just what exactly he is capable of.  Firestar has always been a solid character, so a chance at a new fun team title, I figure why not.  We see right away that they’re going to be dealing with those nasty Bastards of Evil.  A good first arch-team to face-off with.  We get an interesting new character in Toro and the now powerless Arana is back.  A decent little title with great artwork!  In fact, some very excellent artwork that has bright and bold colors and doesn’t feel dark and dreary.  Has some very interesting scenes in it and an interesting ending that makes me want to dive into the next one and see how they handle this!  Definite buy!

 

 

 

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Quick Comic Reviews – July 31st, 2010

Comic Book Review – Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #1 (Dark Horse)

I need to preface this by saying that one of my favorite writer/creators I’ve ever read is Jim Shooter.  Jim Shooter is the current writer for Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom, Magnus Robot Fighter, and Turok Son of Stone.  These are all old Gold Key Comics titles that are being revived once again.  The last time we saw these three titles together were in the dying days of Acclaim Comics which had bought out Valiant Comics.  Jim Shooter made Valiant successful before he was ousted in a bit of controversy.  It was never quite the same after he left because they lost his vision and focus.  He founded a few other comic companies each with great storylines and feel but as the comic industry went spiraling into decline, they too, vanished.

When Dark Horse announced they were bringing back these Gold Key characters back under the supervision of Jim Shooter, I was somewhat excited.  The only thing I didn’t like was that there was no “shared universe” for these characters like we saw in Valiant.  Jim Shooter is at his best when he can tie things together into one universe.  So, while I was happy to see these characters revived, I still have reservations.  However, with Shooter’s writing, I know the stories will at least be solid.

So here we are, diving into the first issue of the rebirth and hopefully being of a wonderful new era for this character.  So how does it pan out?  It has a bit of action to jump into things before we start getting some explanations.  So that’s typical fare now days to kind of jump start into things.  I don’t always like that though as it seems to pull us away from the character and their motivations.  But I see it for what it is.

The issue gets stronger as it goes along.  We find out Doctor Solar was exposed to a nuclear incident involving a black hole as well.  Not very many major twists on his origins, which is fine.  We don’t have to relearn much about him and no sense in reinventing the wheel.  But we found out that he himself has create a quantum event that is creating abnormalities in our reality.  So we have the premise set and we see some of those abnormalities introducing themselves.

My gripe with the comic is the art.  I did not enjoy Dennis Calero’s artwork at all.  His characters are very stiff and not at all fluid.  The action sequences are abysmal at best and I can’t figure out exactly what’s going on in half of them.  Jim Shooter has a way of getting artists to become better storytellers, but I don’t think he had a lot of time here.  From an interview I read, some of the early pages were rushed and Jim never saw them so they could get those pages out early for previews.  I could tell from those interviews that he wasn’t quite pleased with them.  There are some decent pages, but nothing great.  I hope Jim Shooter can bring him around to being a better storyteller, but I don’t know if he can improve Calero’s style much.  His characters, especially the character Vanguard, aren’t drawn very realistically at all.  The only thing people seem to like about his artwork is his “shading”, so that’s all I need to know there.  I hope they either switch artists or he improves quickly because he’s dragging this issue down.

Oh, and this is a 48 page spectacular!  What does that mean?  Well we get a reprint of the original Doctor Solar published by Gold Key.  I had read this recently and is a decent enough story.  A bit outdated, but fun stuff anyway.  For $3.50 you’re getting two stories, so that definitely makes it worthwhile, especially if you never read the original series.

Overall, a good buy for the price.  The story is a little disjointed but builds up well towards the end.  The artwork isn’t very good though and draws away from the storytelling that SHOULD be going on. 

3 out of 5 stars (the bonus feature helps it out)! 

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Comic Book Review – Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #1 (Dark Horse)

Comic Review – Avengers Academy #2

I really liked the first issues of Avengers Academy, it started off well and the second issue continues to point in that direction as well.  We see how our young future Avengers react to the news that they are on the team simply because they are the biggest threat of the candidates to turn into super villains.  So our premise is set-up there.

The main negative of this issue is the artwork.  Some of it just seems sloppy and some of the facials and actions seem out of place or you just can’t even figure out what the hell they’re even doing.  I generally thought the artwork McKone did in Issue #1 was pretty good.  This issue he must have been rushed to finish things up or something because it wasn’t nearly as good as the first issue.  The first issue didn’t really have much in terms of fight sequences either and that’s where he really seems to struggle.

I really thought Christos Gage continued to bring solid writing into this.  He always seems to write good stories with a decent amount of action and character development.  This issue really focuses on Finesse and her thoughts.  We really see an interesting window open and a future subplot of Taskmaster possibly being her father.  But that’s not confirmed nor hinted at.

As with most issues of Avengers: The Initiative, the newer characters are the key with the older, experienced Avengers taking mostly a backseat.  Gage does a good job of using them to enhance our new recruits.  Mettle is a very interesting character that I’m really starting to like.  No Speedball this issue though, I expected him to be a very pivotal character. 

Gage doesn’t do super complicated stories or anything groundbreaking.  He just provides us with good solid comics and I think that’s why I like him so much.  The only thing in this story that I didn’t care for was going back over Quicksilver’s background, but for new readers I do think it is important so I can’t really take anything away from that.  In fact, I hope that garners it new readers because they find it easy enough to jump right into when so many of the comics now days make it hard for you to jump in the middle of. 

Overall, a very solid 2nd issue.  Nothing amazing, but a good read nonetheless.  A deduction for the poor artwork in this issue though.

3 out of 5 stars. 

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Comic Review – Avengers Academy #2