Saturday, June 28, 2014

Justice League, Volume 4: The Grid

 Geoff Johns has always excelled at fast-paced, widescreen summer-blockbuster-type stories, and can generally be relied upon to at least give the reader a bang for his or her buck. (One could also argue that Johns does NOTHING but fast-paced, widescreen summer-blockbuster-type stories, which makes reading his books like eating pizza every night. Yeah, you love pizza, but will you love it after eating it EVERY...NIGHT....?

Constantine, Volume 1: The Spark and the Flame


Done with another one! My wallet thanks you, DC.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Justice League Dark, Volume 3: The Death of Magic

 When we last saw the horribly-named JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, Tim Hunter and Zatanna were whisked away to God only knows where by The Books of Magic, which were actually other-dimensional machines....where did they go? And was it worth following them there...?

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Justice League Dark, Volume 2: The Books of Magic

 For a variety of reasons that defy a condensed version, I am forced to read JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, VOLUME 2: THE BOOKS OF MAGIC without the benefit of reading Volume 1 first. Is there a chance in hell that this will make any kind of sense...?

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Shazam!, Volume 1


 Gone is the sweet, innocent Billy Batson of yesteryear....bring on the dark, gritty "New 52" Billy Batson......SHAZAM, bitches!!!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Pretty Deadly, Volume One: The Shrike


There was a big fuss made late last year when a retailer, after being asked what his opinion of PRETTY DEADLY #1 was by some customers, held up a copy and ripped it to shreds.Since nothing can ever be private anymore, one of those customers took a picture and posted it online, and hell followed with it. Said retailer, Steven LeClaire, owner of Comics Ink in Culver City, California, later apologized (After getting the customary bucket of shit from every nosy person on the internet and in the comic-book industry), by saying “For dramatic effect, I ripped a copy of the book after giving my review. I personally found the book lacking a coherent storyline and the art too muddy to follow. That was my opinion. The book was still on the shelves for sale for all those who wanted it. I made a mistake of thinking I was having a private talk with a small group of friends. I apologize for my actions.”
There were a few other reviews from sources that I trusted that said pretty much the same thing.
So it was with low expectations that I cracked open (As much as you can "crack open" a digital edition....) PRETTY DEADLY, VOLUME ONE: THE SHRIKE.
Maybe those low expectations helped, because I really liked this book.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Nightwing, Volume 4: Second City

 After the traumatic events of NIGHTWING, VOLUME 3: DEATH OF THE FAMILY (Review HERE....), Nightwing relocates to The Windy City in search of the man who killed his parents....

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Injustice: Gods Among Us, Volume 2

 I enjoyed the first volume of INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US (Review HERE.....) enough to give it a rave review, AND run out and buy a PlayStation Vita just so I could play the game. So how does Volume 2 stack up...?

Monday, June 9, 2014

Deep Like The River, by Tim Waggoner


Following the tragic death of her infant daughter and the subsequent collapse of her marriage, Allie is taken on a canoeing day-trip by her sister Carin, with bonding and emotional healing being the order of the day. The pair are soon distracted by what appears to be an abandoned infant on the bank of the river.

 The sisters row over to the baby girl, who is clad in a onesie that reads "Here comes trouble!", and perform a brief search for anyone who might have misplaced her, but find no one. They take the baby with them in the canoe, and set off downriver to find help. Allie, however, keeps seeing a large, strange shape following them behind the treeline, and then there's the huge vulture that keeps circling overhead, and the massive snake that keeps attacking the canoe....

 The core of Deep Like The River held a lot of promise, but Waggoner begins to lose ground when he delves into the backstory of Allie and Carin, and the death of Allie's little girl, which is where the story becomes totally transparent and predictible. There were a lot of interesting things that could have been done with this premise, but Waggoner goes exactly where you expect him to, and the story, while not bad, certainly does not go anywhere especially interesting or unexpected. The novella is mercifully brief at 76 pages, but it still felt like it could have been told just as well in half the pages.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sledgehammer 44

 Remember that Vril energy suit that Lobster Johnson seized at the end of LOBSTER JOHNSON: THE IRON PROMETHEUS way back in 2008? Neither do I, but Mike Mignola and John Arcudi didn't forget!

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Devil Dealers

 I'm a sucker for any kind of story involving The Devil. So a graphic novel featuring El Diablo would seem to be a no-brainer. Bring on the DEVIL DEALERS!!!!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Damian, Son of Batman

The good news: Damian Wayne is back!!
The bad news: He's being written by an artist.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Batman and Robin, Volume 4: Requiem For Damian

 Since the book is called "Requiem For Damian", I'll dispense with my usual SPOILER WARNINGS!!!!!     (Ahhhh, I just did one anyway. Consider yourself warned!)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Hellboy Library Edition, Volume 3: Conqueror Worm and Strange Places, by Mike Mignola

 Reading HELLBOY IN HELL, VOLUME 1: THE DESCENT (Review HERE) put me in a mood for more Hellboy goodness, so I tore through the "To be read" stacks and came up with HELLBOY LIBRARY EDITION, VOLUME 3: CONQUEROR WORM AND STRANGE PLACES, the third volume in Dark Horse's massive hardcover Hellboy omnibus series. I've read these stories literally dozens of times, and not only do they hold up well, but they almost always yield some new revelation or insight into the continually evolving Hellboy universe.