Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #2
Written by J.M. DeMatteis; Art by David Baldeon
Published by Marvel Comics
With this second issue, we see a clearer picture of what DeMatteis is doing. Ben Reilly shares details of his battle with Scorpion with Dr. Kafka. Giving us the picture of a sadder, angrier Ben Reilly. Dematteis gives us a hero who needs human connection while being hounded by villains that are in custody.
Dematteis gets to go in deeper, while Baldeon’s art gives us a plain, yet action packed, view. It still has the feeling of a story that has been told previously.
But if the old hits work, you have to play the hits. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: B-
Action Comics #1040
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson; Art by Riccardo Federici
Published by DC Comics
This book just keeps getting better and better.
Watching Superman become a gladiator on Warworld has been nothing short of thrilling. This issue is quite excellent again as it expands on the story and deepens it as well. This issue shows that Superman is a force to be reckoned with for sure. Is Superman losing himself in combat though? It seems like he might almost be too good at it.
While all of this is going on, Midnighter is trying to track down the remaining members of the Authority. Can he find them and get off the planet? The story by Johnson is just unbelievable and the artwork is the best this book may have have seen. Well done. ( – Lenny Schwartz)
Grade: A
The Human Target #5
Written by Tom King; Art by Greg Smallwood
Published by DC Comics
This series is one hell of a time.
Tom King has done it again with his writing on this book. It has a solid mystery and premise and it also does not let up. The story also has a lot of layers to it and I am enjoying seeing these second rate characters get a chance to shine. Christopher Chance is going to die in a few days and it doesn’t look like anything will stop that. T
his issue takes him deeper into the JLI to investigate some more findings. He sets himself to look into the Martian Manhunter. Apparently, the Manhunter has a clue into his predicament that Christopher needs. He starts to ask some serious questions and the answers he gets is crazy. The story is good and the artwork by Smallwood is spectacular.
A good issue overall. ( – Lenny Schwartz)
Grade: A
The Department of Truth #16
Written by James Tynion IV; Art by Alison Sampson
Published by Image Comics
I have been enjoying this series every much.
Writer James Tynion IV has been delivering the goods with his writing on this series issue in and issue out. Now, he adds on the amazing Alison Sampson onto this book for an issue doing the artwork? What’s better than that? I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Sampson was drawing the book as she’s amazing and she she does not disappoint in the least here.
This issue has to do with a hallucinogenic drug called MKUltra and the effects it is having on the world. We also get to see why Lee Harvey Oswald wants to unlock the power that is in the human mind and what plans he has because of it. The plot starts to deepen and things go crazy by the end. The writing and artwork are both spectacular here and this is a great issue of this book. ( – Lenny Schwartz)
Grade: A
X Deaths of Wolverine #3
Written by Benjamin Percy; Art by Federico Vicentini
Published by Marvel Comics
This third issue has the whole Wolverine family pursuing a killing machine version of Wolverine. Laura, Gabby, and Daken all join in for family fun.
Benjamin Percy certainly is in tune with Wolverine and the odd circumstances of the family dynamic. This issue delivers just a little bit more unveiling of the larger plot. It opens up the story a bit more. We get to see why this Wolverine is here, and Moira’s desperation is clearer. More than previous issues, it gives you a sense of the stakes involved.
Vicentini’s art does bring dynamism and a sense of fun. The action is full of sparks, with scenes that never lose their scale.
As a whole, this issue had me a little more invested in where this story is headed. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: B-
Bolero #2
Written by Wyatt Kennedy; Art by Luana Vecchio
Published by Image Comics
This is an issue that rewards multiple readings, as Devyn hops around the multiverse. In each version, she never quite gets to keep her true love, but it certainly is not for a lack of effort.
This issue has a writer/artist team working in great synergy. You also feel as if this issue, in particular, and this book as a whole, could be brilliant or turn into a huge dumpster fire. Two issues in and I am seeing the brilliance.
The issue has Devyn jumping from a Jane Austen story, to a medieval battlefield, to walking in space. It does this all boldly and confidently. It demands that you keep up but it does it in such a lighthearted and kind way that you have to love it. Now when I say lighthearted, I don’t mean it’s romantic fluff. It really deals with the ache we have all felt using the multiverse as a backdrop.
This book is decidedly not for every reader.
But if you are a patient, open reader it is rewarding. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: A
Supermassive One Shot
Written by Kyle Higgins, Ryan Parrott, Mat Groom
Art by Francesco Manna, Simone Ragazzoni, Marcelo Costa
Published by Image Comics
Radiant Black teams up with Inferno Girl Red and Rogue Sun team up to fight a world threat in a story that is Supermassive only in page count, not in originality.
The Radiant Black stories generally borrow ideas from other stories that try to give it their own spin. Which is fine, there’s a long tradition of that in all media. But these stories have been best when dealing with the individual characters involved. When they go for big action it just feels generic. The new characters feel generic. The villains feel generic. It ultimately feels as a forgettable story.
The art here is fun and splashy. It’s nice to look at. It’s just the rest of the issue leaves me feeling disinterested ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: C
Robin #11
Written by Joshua Williamson; Art by Gleb Melnikov
Published by DC Comics
This issue serves as an epilogue of sorts to the whole Lazarus tournament story. We get a reunion of Damian’s maternal side of his family. All while setting up some big events to come.
This story gives us some great character beats but it should not have taken 11 issues to get here. The whole story has felt mechanical, as if this part of the story had to take exactly 11 issues to arrive at this destination. Meanwhile, events in other books had to take place before Robin could return to Gotham next issue. This book has felt uneven as a resort and this issue suffers from that
The last page of this issue seems to hint at an interesting story to come. I’m really curious where this is headed. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: B-
Harley Quinn #12
Written by Stephanie Phillips: Art by Riley Rossmo
Published by DC Comics
Harley Quinn #12 really puts her in a dilemma that most other superheroes would handle easily. In doing so, we get a glimpse into Harley Quinn and how she, even in her zany worldview, figures out a solution and saves the day. We get a closing chapter to her battle with Keepsake, but we also get a look at a formidable new villain.
The best thing about this Phillips run is the attempt to flesh out Harley as a character. The action and adventure doesn’t feel huge but it doesn’t have to be. Rossmo’s art really makes the story zing by adding silliness with an undercurrent of seriousness. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: B
Detective Comics #1054
Written by Mariko Tamaki: Art by Max Raynor
Published by DC Comics
This issue continues the Arkham Tower storyline and I, for one, can’t wait for it to be over.
The positives of this issue, and this storyline, is seeing various supporting characters working together. Those moments that don’t rely too much on the happenings at the tower really work. I can’t say everything else works. It is a storyline that has dragged on. I wish we could see these characters facing other threats in Gotham. But a corrupt doctor that they have been chasing over 8 issues, even if he’s teamed up with Psycho Pirate, just is not it.
I like Mariko Tamaki’s work and I hope she stays on Detective Comics for a long run. Both Max Raynor and Dan Mora have provided great art for her scripts. Just please wrap up Arkham Tower. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: C
DC vs Vampires #5
Written By James Tynion IV and Matthew Rosenberg; Art By Otto Schmidt
Published by DC Comics
This series continues to be a bloody, good time.
This issue features a battle between Justice League members who think Batman has turned vamp, with some vamps hidden in the League contributing to the confusion. Meanwhile the Suicide Squad is after the Joker, who may have been turned. And we get to see the most surprising Squad member turned vampire.
Tynion and Rosenberg are really cooking something special here. This issue is more action oriented than previous issues, and the camaraderie with the League turning into the two non powered members defending themselves is a blast. Otto Schmidt works both the Squad and League portions of the story, and he switches back and forth with ease.
Five issues in, this series is a blast and I can’t wait to read it again once it’s collected. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: B+
Blue And Gold #6
Written by Dan Jurgens; Art by Ryan Sook
Published by DC Comics
Dan Jurgens does not get the recognition he deserves, in my opinion. It’s safe to say you can’t tell the story of DC Comics without including Jurgens and his contributions. So it’s great to see him still at it after all these years.
Booster and Blue Beetle are forced to fight to the death by Omnizon on her home planet. Meanwhile, Rip Hunter is trying to find a way out of this dilemma.
Under Jurgens, Booster and Blue Beetle have a fun friendship rarely seen. Ryan Sook’s work here really makes the surroundings feel dangerous for our heroes. His ability with detailed expressions really add to punchlines and to scenes fraught with tension.
Blue and Gold #6 is a fun adventure well worth reading. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: A
Catwoman #40
Written by Tini Howard; Art by Nico Leon
Published by DC Comics
Both the previous issue and this issue are trying to set Selina Kyle in her own distinct corner of Gotham. This particular corner is very mob oriented, and violence tends to be a first resort. No Dark Knight investigating, no Nightwing swooping in. Just Catwoman and her instincts.
Tini Howard does a good job setting up the unpredictability of these newest enemies. What’s lacking is pacing that feels a bit rushed, with characters jammed in. The art doesn’t help in that some characters are drawn too similar and posed in odd cramped spaces, with the reader’s point of view feeling muddled. We also get an ally, possibly enemy, who in attitude and costume feel way too similar to Batman’s Ghost-Maker.
Overall, this Catwoman run has good things but needs work to do. ( – Alex Vaello)
Grade: B-
BRZRKR #7
Written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt; Art by Ron Garney
Published by BOOM! Studios
At the beginning of this title, we saw Berserker run through the world, age after age, century after centure, nothing and no one able to destroy or defeat him.
During the second act of this 12-part series, we’ve seen more of the people working with Berserker to unlock the secrets of his power and grant him the mortality he seeks. And now, deep into the second act of this story, the world closes its grasp around Berserker, literally. He’s in a cube, buried two miles deep.
How much of B.’s memory remains to uncover? Or, specifically, how much so that chief handler Caldwell can unlock the secrets of B.’s power, and how much so that B. himself can gain the mortality he desires?
This issue relies heavily on illustrations of a conversation between Caldwell and B., essentially providing flashbacks. And for the history nerds and lovers of artifacts, this issue will please. As the story enters the third act, Caldwell introduces the idea that Berserker has changed over time, too. Combine that with Caldwell’s still-unknown endgame, and expect major fireworks to come.
Or many, many, eviscerations. ( – Marvin Pittman)
Grade: A
Aquamen #1
Written by Chuck Brown and Brandon Thomas; Art by Sami Basri
Published by DC Comics
Are you ready for some Aquaman realness in an action-packed and sleek comic?
Arthur Curry is Aquaman. And Jackson Hyde also is Aquaman. Together they are the Aquamen! And immediately we’re off to the races, as Ocean Master has attacked the United Nations with a sea serpent and piranha men in tow. In quick order, though, a deeper crisis is forming.
Every day humans are suddenly awakening as sleeper agents with Atlantean DNA and attacks on surface dwellers. It’s a crisis so big that, as hinted at in Aquaman: The Becoming, even Black Manta is working with Arthur on the case.
How that’s gonna go for Jackson, already a wreck after learning of his secret sister and his mother lying in a coma? Buckle up! ( – Marvin Pittman)
Grade: B
Wonder Woman: Evolution #4
Written by Stephanie Phillips; Art by Mike Hawthorne
Published by DC Comics
Packed with classic Wonder Woman and DC superhero bits, this issue wastes little time and pulls few punches – figuratively and literally.
Diana remains imprisoned in the cosmic trial of humanity, unsure of what’s real and illusion. And that’s before she’s confronted by a child version of herself, trying to seed doubt, who takes her to the Hall of Justice. Inside, the Justice League is negotiating the transfer of an alien fugitive sentenced to death on her homeworld for terrorism against what she says is an oppressive regime. Diana pushes back on the JL saying they should grant the alien asylum, but the League says they must hand her over to avoid a war.
And so it’s Wonder Woman vs. the Justice League in a knockdown brawl.
Phillips writes out the arguments between Wonder Woman and the Justice League in ways that show how uncharacteristic this trial’s simulation has rendered them. And Hawthorne’s art embraces the widescreen panels I usually detest, but work well in group scenes and composed to maximize the drama of the situation.
However, I wonder why this no-brainer dilemma is a part of this trial?
The next issue may give us more. ( – Marvin Pittman)
Grade: B-
Hardware: Season One #4
Written by Brandon Thomas; Art by Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz
Published by DC Comics
As Curtis continues to rebuild his Hardware armor after being framed for the Big Bang event in Dakota, Curtis’ associates Barraki and Tiffany issue public statements against Edwin Alva.
The heat starts closing in, both in Dakota at at Curtis’ hideout in the Singapore headquarters of Alva’s old business partner Asher Sim.
This comic continues to play with the idea of “What if Tony Stark were Black?” in a way that would make Hardware perhaps the most dangerous man in the world for the way he upsets the social order. And Curtis wouldn’t be who he was if he didn’t know how to stay a step ahead of people who think they’ve got the drop on him. However, as Sim says, we’ve yet to see the depths of Alva’s depravity, nor his Rolodex of killers from decades of military work.
Cowan and Sienkiewicz’s indulgence on close-ups and expressive faces make all this feel more accessible than it otherwise might be. ( – Marvin Pittman)
Grade: B
Slumber #1
Written by Tyler Burton Smith; Art by Vanessa Cardinali
Published by Image Comics
What exactly is this?
It begins like a purple ’90s crime thriller with a killer hook: random people are being stabbed to death in New York, all of them by people who say they did it in their sleep and who all make the same markings in the victims’ blood and writing the phrase, “I seek the Dream Eater.”
On the other hand, we meet Stetson, a “beautiful mess” female character who has tech that allows her physically go into people’s dreams and literally kill their nightmares. It’s a little bit Evil Dead, a little bit Ghostbusters, a little bit Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a touch of Orphan Black? Tonally, this is kinda all over the place while wanting us to be sure it’s edgy.
Namely, I didn’t expect so many jokes? Stetson has a dark past lurking in her own dreams, she has a flesh-eating monster sidekick with a katana, and sometimes if somebody has Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth in their nightmares, she’ll have sex with him.
Cardinali is completely up for the task of such a fantastical, horror-steeped project – filling the pages with delirious imagery both in the dreamworld and the waking one. ( – Marvin Pittman)
Grade: B-
Silver Surfer Rebirth #2
Written by Ron Marz; Art by Ron Lim
Published by Marvel Comics
Ding, ding, ding, ding! We have ourselves a bonifide mystery. Issue #2 of Silver Surfer Rebirth slows the action but ramps up the drama.
Ron Marz does a great job fleshing out Silver Surfer’s motivation for partnering with Thanos, one of the worst beings in the universe. You cannot be choosy about who you are selecting for partnership when all of reality is at stake.
One thing I am enjoying about the plot is its overall plausibility. I could never have imagined that our shining sentinel of the spaceway would team up with the Mad Titan, but it actually makes sense. Also, Thanos can be quite persuasive, especially when hanging the Surfer’s past sins as Galactus’ herald over his head.
The Surfer’s death ledger is as long as Thanos’. The Mad Titan is nothing if not clever.
Ron Lim’s artwork continues to be crisp. Visually, the universe has never looked better. I am ready for this mystery to continue to unfold.
It has been a fun read thus far. ( – Eugene Johnson)
Grade: A
