Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Daredevil" #11 / "Supergirl" #1 / "Blue Beetle: Rebirth" #1

"Daredevil" #11: Soule, Garney and Milla do such an outstanding job with Daredevil right now, it's hard not to almost expect excellence from this series month after month by now. If you haven't started reading it, do it now!

9/10













"Supergirl" #1: It's everything you'd expect from it, which is not necessarily a good thing. Kara misses home, clashes with the D.E.O. and has a hard time integrating into her new environment. Solid, but too predicable.

6/10













"Blue Beetle: Rebirth" #1: What's going on? Why do Jaime and Ted have no chemistry whatsoever? Who are these villains? What do they want? Why could no one write a better comic? Who could possibly be interested in #1?

4/10


Monday, 19 September 2016

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Wonder Woman" #2 / #3 / #4 / #5


The Lies (#3 and #5): It's an intriguing and highly captivating story about Wonder Woman's expulsion from Themyscira and her and Trevor's subsequent fight against Urzkartaga. And most important of all, it stays true its core themes of identity and the rewriting of history.

9/10





Year One (#2 and #4): A carefully woven and well-narrated Wonder Woman origin story, that excels in its nuanced and invigorating depiction of Themyscira and the heartfelt way it recounts Steve Trevor's life prior to Wonder Woman. This could well go on to be one of Wonder Woman's quintessential origin stories.

9/10 


Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Review: "Justice League" #1 / #2 / #3

After the rather dull and too conventional "Justice League: Rebirth" #1, it's good to see that Bryan Hitch was able to turn the series around considerably. From what looked to be your next "giant-space-alien-attack-forces-heroes-to-save-the-world-story", the comic has incorporated a few welcome twists and turns to the formula, to make it stand out in comparison to other series. 

But "Justice League" also scores with the presentation of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman etc., where each hero is given fair and considerable attention, with a focus that truly emphasizes the concept of the sum that is greater than its parts.

8/10

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Deadpool v Gambit" #4 / "Han Solo" #3 / "Captain America: Steve Rogers" #4

"Deadpool v Gambit" #4: Only picked that up again because both Marvel and DC hardly released anything that week. And yes, the moment Deadpool and Gambit do not even really appear in their own comic, we suddenly have a half-decent story at our hand, treating the inevitability of fate through the Scramblers backstory here. 

7/10












"Han Solo" #3: Fast, fun, entertaining and with a take on Han Solo that feels fresher than in any other of Marvel's "Star Wars" series.

8/10







"Captain America: Steve Rogers" #4: What does it have to do with "Civil War II" again? Never mind. It's solid, compelling and thoroughly narrated, but definitely has lost some of its magic from earlier issues.

7/10

Tuesday, 6 September 2016

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Batgirl & The Birds of Prey: Rebirth" #1 / "Nightwing: Rebirth" #1 / "Star Wars" #22

"Batgirl & The Birds of Prey: Rebirth" #1: That's how a "Rebirth" issue should be: a proper and interesting introduction to Batgirl and Barbara Gordon, and the Huntress makes for a perfect "frenemy". Thoroughly fun.

8/10













"Nightwing" #1: The depiction of Nightwing is nuanced and intelligent, and his relationship and dynamic with Damian Wayne is simply superb, but what the hell is going on half of the time? You'll have a hard time following the plot if you haven't been into Nightwing before. 

6/10













"Star Wars" #22: To see the Rebels fight an empirical starship is gripping and entertaining, unfortunately though, some narrative holes spoil the party a bit. The eventual encounter between SCAR Squad and Han, Luke and Leia promises to be epic.

7/10




Monday, 5 September 2016

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Deadpool" #17 / "Action Comics" #962 / "Detective Comics" #939

"Deadpool" #17: To sell this as a "Civil War II" tie-in is simply ridiculous, as it has simply no connection whatsoever to Marvel's big summer event (a fact even admitted by Duggan in the comic's intro page). Apart from that? Nothing to report, just the same old Deadpool shtick. This series needs some fresh new ideas, and the Mercs for Money should stick to their own series.

5/10











"Action Comics" #962: The Doomsday storyline is over (for now), and the series closes it in solid but unspectacular fashion. Kudos to Jurgens though for gradually developing and shaping the comic's characters.

7/10













"Detective Comics" #939: Admittedly, the series started out quite slow, but by now has come full circle in terms of drama, dynamic and great action set pieces. Can't wait for the conclusion.

 8/10

Saturday, 3 September 2016

Quickfire Combo-Reviews: "Superman" #5 / "Wonder Woman" #1 / "Deathstroke" #1

"Superman" #5: The action is solid here, as the "Son of Superman" storyline slowly approaches its conclusion. But the real highlight here is the Kent family going crazy with Batman's gadgets in his moon cave. Pure fan service that is.

7/10













"Deathstroke" #1: Its narrative mode, where little chapters jump back and forth in time is a good choice of telling the comic's story, but Deathstroke himself, unfortunately, has lost some of the grit and mercilessness of the "Rebirth" issue. 

6/10













"Wonder Woman" #1:
 It's reliance on art over dialogue continues to be a thorough success for "Wonder Woman", perfectly fitting the protagonists sturdy quest for truth. One of DC's best "Rebirth" titles.

8/10